Stage friends stunned by actor's murder charges

June 25, 2010

Updated Sept. 6, 2014 4:37 p.m.

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Daniel Wozniak, second from left in this recent production shot from "Nine" at Hunger Artists Theatre Company in Fullerton, was a well-respected community stage actor who had appeared in several Orange County shows. HUNGER ARTISTS THEATRE COMPANY

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Wozniak graduated from Los Alamitos High School. This is his 2001 yearbook photo. LARRY STRAWTHER, LOS ALAMITOS HIGH SCHOOL

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Wozniak, bottom, appeared in The Hunger Artists' production of the musical "Nine" at the time of the murders. HUNGER ARTISTS THEATRE COMPANY

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"Nine," based on Federico's film "8-1/2," is an autobiographical story about a famous film director having a midlife crisis. Wozniak, right, played the filmmaker, Guido. HUNGER ARTISTS THEATRE COMPANY

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A scene from "Nine." Daniel Wozniak began acting in high school and was considered a promising and disciplined performer by his colleagues. HUNGER ARTISTS THEATRE COMPANY

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This undated file photo provided by the Costa Mesa Police Department shows Daniel Wozniak as he was booked for investigation of murdering 26-year-old Samuel Herr and 23-year-old Juri Kibuishi. AP

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A photo of Wozniak from his Facebook page. On that Web site Wozniak describes himself as "a pretty easy-going guy who always seems to get into some kind of trouble."

Daniel Wozniak, second from left in this recent production shot from "Nine" at Hunger Artists Theatre Company in Fullerton, was a well-respected community stage actor who had appeared in several Orange County shows. HUNGER ARTISTS THEATRE COMPANY

Those are some of the words that colleagues from Orange County's tight-knit theater community used to describe Daniel Wozniak, a well-liked actor who appeared in many local theater productions since graduating from Los Alamitos High School in 2002.

Wozniak, 26, has been charged with the murders of two people, Samuel Herr and Juri Kibuishi, allegedly for financial gain. Authorities believe that Herr was killed May 21 and his body dismembered. Early the next day, according to Costa Mesa police, Wozniak is believed to have shot Kibuishi in the head, killing her, and removed some of her clothing to make it look like a sexual assault.

On June 10, Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas announced that he will seek the death penalty.

Some of Wozniak's friends and colleagues are having a tough time believing that he was capable of such inhumanity. Others feel deceived and betrayed by someone they trusted and thought they knew – a man who rehearsed with them, shared their dressing rooms, even dated their daughters. There's also some soul-searching. Were there signs of instability that were dismissed or ignored?

"He was like a son to me," said Daniel Halkyard, who directed Wozniak in several productions. "He was always coming over to the house, staying the night. He was just the nicest kid. This is a really hard thing to process. It's traumatic."

"I found him charming," said actor and costume designer Molly Dewane. "He was really good with little kids. He was always on time. He had a really great sense of humor. I went to a karaoke bar with him and had a wonderful time. I never saw a temper."

A period of confusion, second-guessing and guilt is common when someone close to you commits a horrible act, said Dr. Michael J. Perrotti, a Yorba Linda forensic psychologist who specializes in criminal cases and is an advisor to "CSI" and other crime shows.

"Denial, anger, mourning, acceptance – the feelings (people experience) after something like this are much like the multiple stages of grief that (Dr. Elisabeth) Kübler-Ross wrote about," Perrotti said. "It can take months or even years to work through it."

Halkyard has known Wozniak ever since he was a student at Los Alamitos High School and says he is close to his family as well. Wozniak worked for Halkyard's home appraisal business for two years and dated his daughter, Emily. Halkyard said they were planning on getting married.

"They decided not to do it but they parted as friends. Now she's just devastated."

Halkyard was acting in Fullerton Civic Light Opera's production of "Brigadoon" last month when he got a phone call about Wozniak's arrest. He said the news struck the cast like a thunderbolt. "We all just flipped. I said, 'You're talking about the wrong guy.'"

Halkyard said he has fond memories of directing Wozniak in a production of "The Sound of Music" at the Orange County Children's Theatre.

"He played Captain von Trapp. He was wonderful with the children. He did a fabulous job. He threw himself into the role."

Halkyard noticed no change in Wozniak before his arrest. "I'm seeing a lot of actors' gossip out there, but nobody I talked to saw this coming."

'HE TOTALLY FOOLED ME'

Some of that actors' gossip can be found online in comment sections to news stories and on social-networking sites.

Said O.C. actress Melanie Gable on Facebook: "When something terrifying happens so close to a place that's special to you, how do you even process it? How do you look at that place the same way again? And how do you comprehend the ease with which some people are able to compartmentalize their lives to the point of separating terrible deeds from joyful hobbies, almost as if it were two different people?"

That thought was echoed by Jeff Hathcock, who runs the Southeast Civic Light Opera, an acting company at the Liberty Theater on the Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base – a place where Hathcock had directed Wozniak in the past, and where part of Herr's body was found.

"He totally fooled me. I never dreamed for a minute he had this in him. It had to be a hidden character flaw. He got into a crisis with money and that triggered it, I guess."

Hathcock never saw any evidence of that side of Wozniak.

"When I first met him I thought he was a young man who was going places: tall, well-spoken, the life of the party, the center of attention. He did several shows with me, 'The Music Man' and 'Charlie's Aunt' and 'Arsenic and Old Lace.' He was very good."

Hathcock recalled that when he asked Wozniak if he planned to pursue acting professionally, the young man answered no. "He said he wanted his life to be more well-grounded. At that time he was selling insurance. I thought, 'This is a guy who has his head on straight.'"

Hathcock, like Halkyard, first heard about Wozniak when he was a high school student.

"My daughter was a grade ahead of him. She told me I should see him, and I went to watch him in 'Once Upon a Mattress.'" Hathcock was impressed, and a few years later Wozniak was playing Harold Hill in his production of "The Music Man."

Wozniak briefly dated Hathcock's daughter, Nancy, who works with Hathcock at his theater. "She thought very highly of him," Hathcock said.

But Hathcock noted a few things about Wozniak that, in retrospect, possibly have more meaning.

"One of his pitfalls was that he drank. One night we had a cast party for a show and he was putting it away fairly good. He got so snockered I had to drive him home."

Hathcock also noticed a recent weight gain, and heard from mutual friends that Wozniak's personality had changed in the last few months.

"I'm certain there has to be more to this story. Otherwise it just doesn't make any sense to me."

Dewane agreed. "I suspect he was one of those people who was really good at holding things in. Still, it's been very difficult to reconcile what I know about Dan with this awful premeditated crime."

SHATTERED TRUST

Perrotti said that within Wozniak's circle, feelings of denial and disbelief could be magnified.

"I think that because of the nature of their work, actors can be even more sensitive to human emotion (than other people). They are probably also more accepting and less critical of (unusual behavior) because of the process they go through when working on roles. He may have been showing signs of trouble and people saw it but dismissed it or minimized it."

The intimate and collaborative nature of theater creates strong bonds among its practitioners, said Dr. Sarah M. Steinmeyer, a psychologist with Mission Hospital in Laguna Hills who works with families.

"I think that more than most groups, with the long hours and the shared dressing rooms and working together on something where there's a lot of emotional commitment, there's a level of trust that's pretty unique – a feeling of being able to really rely on one another." When that trust is shattered, Steinmeyer said, "The sense of betrayal would be very painful."

Dewane admitted feeling that level of pain. To her, it's almost as if Wozniak, too, has been killed – at least the man she knew.

"It's like he died. You want to remember the person that was. How could I possibly have worked with someone who could do something like that? I just can't wrap my mind around this. It's impossible to."

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